Partners in Peril
by smileyjunior
Summary: Hawkeye and Black Widow are best friends. When one of them is in danger, the other will do whatever it takes to save them.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note: I love Natasha and Clint's friendship, and I thought to myself... what about an almost parallel scenario, where one rescues the other? How would they differ? And thus here is _Partners in Peril_. The first version is of Natasha rescuing Clint. Both stories take place after Avengers, but before CA: TWS.

Okay... This looks bad. Scratch that. Things couldn't be worse.

Clint Barton had been sent on a solo S.H.I.E.L.D. assignment, to protect the transportation of an 084 from a point A to a point B. While flying the quinjet back to HQ, he'd been shot out of the sky by pirates (yes, real, freaking, bloody pirates) and they'd captured him when they discovered him in the remains of the quinjet in the ocean. Said pirates had just learned about the bounty on his right arm, and they were discussing ways they could collect the reward.

Clint was working on escaping his bonds as he overheard the conversation in the next room. He was slowly but surely wriggling his wrists free from the rope that was binding them.

"Let's just kill him and cut the arm off!" said one pirate.

"Why go through the trouble of killing him? Let's just take the arm!"

"That arm is going to get us a huge score, we need to do this soon. He'll have people looking for him!"

Clint had gotten his wrists free and he quickly went to work on his ankles. As soon as he was free he stood up and headed to the stairs that would take him above deck of the pirate's ship. He looked around the corner to make sure no one was looking, and then he bolted.

He made it out onto the deck only to run into a muscular 6ft 7 pirate who was not happy at all with the archer. Clint threw a punch only to have it blocked, the pirate grabbed his arm and twisted until a loud crack was heard and Clint couldn't help the yell of pain from escaping from his lips. The pirate didn't let go of his arm, he held onto it while also securing Clint's other arm. Thundering footsteps as the pirates ran upstairs to investigate the noise. When they saw Clint's broken arm they were furious.

"He's worthless! Throw him overboard!"

Clint, in an understandable amount of pain tried to say "C'mon guys…" through gasps of pain "We can… talk about this." His pleas went unheard as he was tossed into the ocean. His body already tired and exhausted from being shot out of the quinjet, Clint couldn't bring himself to the surface with a broken arm. The waves repeatedly swept him under and after a while he couldn't help but think he was never going to see Laura or the kids again… He wished there was a way for them to find his body. He knew Laura would be devastated if he was never found. But the ocean is a vast land, and the odds of him being found were slim to none.

He took a small comfort in knowing Natasha would protect his family at all costs. Then he realized she too would be devastated. They had been through so much together, and he had convinced her all those years ago to work for S.H.I.E.L.D. Clint's vision was darkening, his lungs burned for oxygen, and in absolute agony he finally lost consciousness.

* * *

The moment Natasha learned Clint's quinjet had been shot down, she had taken a quinjet of her own and gone to the crash site. She didn't find him, and knowing he was somehow alive she used a radar search and saw a ship sailing 5 miles away. Using the clouds as cover, she looked on as her partner was tossed into the abyss. She wasn't worried at first, she knew he could swim. She had to wait for the ship to be further away before she could get him on board.

Why wasn't he surfacing? Something was wrong. Natasha found herself in a rare moment of panic. The ship be damned, she took the quinjet down to the ocean level and kept it running as she dove out of it. She couldn't see him at first there was no sign of him.

But wait, something was sinking deeper and deeper… she swam further down, trying to catch up with it. Then she saw it was him. Her lungs burned for oxygen but she couldn't just go back to the surface. What felt like 10 excruciating minutes of swimming downward finally ended, she caught up with his body, and wrapped her arm around his waist. She kept swimming to the surface, but they had been so deep down at this point she figured there was a chance she wouldn't make it. She pressed the emergency evacuation button on her utlity belt, but kept trying to swim to the surface.

By something short of a miracle she made it, lugging an unconscious Clint with her. She used her remaining strength to get him on the quinjet, and collapsed next to his body. She needed to move though, she had to give him CPR he wasn't breathing.

Still gasping for air herself, she crawled over to his body, pinched his nose and forced air into his lungs by mouth to mouth. As she gave him air she felt more lightheaded, but she didn't care. She pressed down on his chest three times before repeating the action. She did this 6 more times to no avail "Don't do this to me Clint…" she found herself pleading. Clint jerked and coughed up water, gasping and choking. Natasha felt immediate relief, and she fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

When Natasha came to, she was lying in a S.H.I.E.L.D. hospital bed. She turned to her side to see Captain Steve Rogers sitting in a platic chair between her bed and the next. There was someone else in the other bed and she quickly sat up to see if it was Clint.

"Whoa Agent Romanoff," Rogers said cautiously putting his hands on her shoulders "Take it easy."

"Where is…? Is that…?" she tried speaking.

"Agent Barton is going to be fine. He's in the bed right next to you, but I'm sorry you can't get up yet."

She sank back into her pillow. Then she realized, "What are you doing here?"

"I got the alert about an agent in distress… when I heard it was you I volunteered to fly out. I knew you were going after Agent Barton, I wanted to help."

She was shocked and yet warmed by his response. "Thank-you Captain."

"Please, call me Steve."

"Natasha." She said in return and he nodded. After a moment of silence he said,

"I can't believe you were able to get him out of the water and onto the quinjet. It's incredible that you were able to stay conscious for so long to give him CPR."

She looked over at the other bed, "Yeah… well he'd do the same for me."


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: Clint saves Natasha! Also, warning for brief strong language.

She hadn't surrendered, nearly 20 men lie at her feet, as she continues fighting the 50+ that remain. That is until someone shouted above the noise from the fight "ENOUGH!"

The men froze where they were, she was taken aback but then turned to see an individual 10-ft away staring at her.

"Who are you?" she asked, knowing he would not give away his identity so easily.

But wait, he answered her; why couldn't she understand what he said? Suddenly she found herself flat on the ground, conscious but unresponsive. She couldn't get her limbs to move as she was grabbed by the henchmen and dragged further into the compound. She also couldn't speak, had she been hit? What the hell was going on?

The man who had spoken earlier led the way down the hall, he said something else and Natasha lost consciousness.

"Barton?" Maria Hill walked over to Clint Barton who was shooting arrows on the range.

"Yes dear." He responded without turning, a smile crossing his face.

"Agent Romanoff has gone MIA."

The arrow he had notched back hit its target prematurely as soon as Clint heard this, he turned to look at Hill, "Last known location?"

"A compound in Russia. The quinjet is ready to go."

* * *

It took a mere few hours for Clint to fly to Russia. When he arrived at the compound where Natasha had last been known to be, he checked in with Hill for infiltrating. Once inside the compound, he made his way into the ventilation systems and try to figure out the layout of the compound. In the far east wing he looked down from a grate in one of the vents and inside the room below was his partner lying still unresponsive, metal restraints held her down to a table.

There didn't seem to be any guards inside the room, so he slowly lowered himself down to the room with a grappling hook. He immediately went to her side,

"Nat? Nat, we gotta get you out of here."

"She won't wake." An older gentleman with a heavy Russian accent had hidden in a corner of the room surrounded by shadows; practically invisible until he stepped out into the light.

Although surprised, Clint's reflexes we're as fast as lightning, and he grabbed his bow and used an arrow to target the man.

"What the hell did you do to her?" He asked, a growl almost making its way into his voice.

The Russian laughed, "She is in a programmed sleep. Something has been in her brain since she was a very small girl… There are two words that I can use to wake her up." He smiled sadistically. "One of these words will bring her back just as she was she'll only of thought she lost a few hours of sleep… But the other..." The man stepped closer to Clint who pulled the arrow back even tighter. "It works like a reset button. She'll wake up with no memory of defecting, and she will believe she remains loyal to Mother Russia." The man looked to Natasha, then Clint, "which phrase shall I use?"

Before Clint could respond the Russian spoke harshly, "Tsarina, sonbuca." He pressed a switch on the metal bed where Natasha lay and her bindings opened... And she woke up. The Russian spoke directly to her, in his native language: "Eliminate him Widow! He is an American spy that wishes to see Russia crumble!"

Natasha flew off the bed and charged toward Clint.

"Shit." He muttered. Her eyes were blank, cold and dark. This wasn't the Natasha he had come to know. This was more like the girl he had once persuaded to join S.H.I.E.L.D.

She jumped and sent her legs flying around his neck. His bow skittered across the room as she twisted her body and took him down with her. The Russian laughed maniacally before running from the room.

"Nat... Please..." Clint tried to reason with the redhead who was currently choking the life out of him with her thighs. "This isn't you... You don't belong to them. They don't control you!"

He sent a jab toward her ribs which caused her to loosen her grip, he rolled away and stood up, fists ready for combat. She grabbed the arrow that had fallen to the ground when she originally took him down.

"C'mon Nat... You know me."

She advanced with the arrow, and he leaped back avoiding the attack. "I don't want to fight you!" He yelled, she swiped the arrow left to right and cut him across the forearm. He ignored the stinging pain and kicked out at her, she dodged but then he landed a punch across her face. She dropped the arrow.

"I am no friend of any American." She said in a dark, Russian accent. Clint's heart sank, as she stared at him with murderous wanting.

"Tasha… When I first recruited you, you demanded something. Do you remember what it was?"

She looked intrigued for a moment, just a brief moment before advancing on him again. He dodged and reached for an arrow from his quiver. "You told me that you were your own woman. First, last… and always." She froze and he took the opportunity to strike. Grabbing his bow his aimed the arrow at her and took the shot. She fell to the floor. He grabbed his phone and called for evac. He then sat down, his head in his hands, not knowing what to do.

* * *

Hill picked them up with a team in a quinjet. Natasha was on a stretcher, both her hands and feet cuffed. Clint was toward the back of the quinjet, his head in his hands, brooding. Hill approached him,

"Quick thinking on your part to use a stun arrow." She said. He didn't respond. Her tone became more gentle, "We're gonna get her back Barton."

He shook his head and not looking up he said "How? We don't know the trigger that will bring her out of this mess. We lost the Russian who took her." He looked up at Hill, tired sad eyes met hers, "She could be gone forever."

"We took your description of the Russian, and we've sent a S.T.R.I.K.E. team after him. He'll tell us the answer."

Clint shook his head, "Fucking Russians…"

* * *

Natasha was kept sedated when they got back to HQ. The cuffs didn't leave her wrists and ankles and she stayed attached to the hospital bed. Clint had tried to convince the doctors to take them off but the Council intervened and wouldn't hear of it.

It took about a week before Rumlow reported in from the S.T.R.I.K.E. team mission with confirmation that they had found the Russian.

Clint wasn't sure how it happened, but Rumlow got the trigger phrase and communicated it to Hill. Natasha's sedatives were cut off, and as soon as she regained consciousness, Clint was there to say "Nemnogo balerina."

She blinked slowly and she seemed to recognize him. "Clint?" She tried sitting up but the cuffs kept her down. "What the hell is going on?!" She demanded.

He almost smiled but then said in a serious tone, "Are you, you Nat?"

She froze, "What happened?"

"Well.. you know Russians. They think they know everything." His hand went to hers, and he spoke in a softer tone "But what they don't know, is that you are your own woman."

Authors Note: I love comicbooks guys... that's one of my favorite Black Widow quotes. Also I don't know how Hill made her way into this story but here she is.


End file.
